Kings Langley record double Bank Holiday home defeats

Roy Mitchard

A large Bank Holiday Monday crowd saw Kings Langley fail to break this season’s home hoodoo when they went down by the odd goal in three to local rivals Chesham United.

Although Kings made four changes, there were remarkable similarities to the contest two days earlier, as United got off to a quick-fire start, with Xavi Comas palming a shot from Dave Pearce round the post in the first minute and Mat Mitchel-King firing over from the resultant corner.

Benji Crilley caused some alarm with a solo run and shot, but Kings started to find the room to play their brand off interpassing football and gradually gained in confidence.

That was to change on 19 minutes when another corner proved their undoing, the kick from Pearce being headed on by Darren Purse to Adam Martin, who planted his header wide of Comas.

Within three minutes, the home defence appealed in vain for offside as Brad Wadkins ran through the middle and calmly lobbed the keeper.

Kings were in disarray and struggling against a powerful defence, with too many promising midfield moves breaking down with a loose final pass and it was not until the 37th minute that Oran Swales got a shot on target for the home side.

The break saw the introduction of Dean Hitchcock inmidfield and Stevie Ward down the right and a difference in attitude gradually became apparent.

Connor Toomey had a clear chance when put through by his brother, Lewis, but Ashlee Jones did well to block the shot with his legs.

United’s attacks became more rare and although Kings were breaking well down the wings, Lewis Toomey was finding it tough going in the middle as he laboured manfully against the powerful presence of Purse, Martin and Mitchel-King.

The striker’s perseverance paid off though when he took a cross from Emmanuel Folarin to turn on a sixpence and fire an unstoppable shot past Jones. With six minutes of normal time to go, there was once again the possibility of an unlikely comeback, but the experience of United’s defence was able to dispel that illusion, condemning Kings to a barren Bank Holiday weekend.

Kings host Sporting Bengal United in the FA Cup First Qualifying Round on Saturday.